Chapter 52: Two Can Keep A Secret

By the time I woke up from that chaotic night, it was already past lunch, and, as I predicted, my back was sore as fuck. The pain alone instantly reminded me of my royal fuck up last night. Literally.

*Shit, I really am gonna need medication after this. My anxiety is rocketing through the rough. I’d rather go head-to-head with a mugger with a knife. Fuck this drama shit, man…*

As much as I dreaded it, I didn’t want my mom to get worried or suspicious that something had happened to me. I knew she probably already noticed that I had left last night and hadn’t come back till late. The last thing I wanted was to give her more reason to question my whereabouts and what I’ve been up to.

*Fuck everything.*

I flinched and grabbed the side of my neck when I felt a throb on the side of it. My first thought was that I slept on it wrong but when I looked in the mirror I saw a giant bruise-like hickey where Julian had bit into me. “You son of a fucker…” I snarled under my breath. It was noticeable and bare for everyone to see. I had no choice but to get my red bandana and type it around my neck to hide it.

After making sure the black hickey was completely concealed, I got changed into some baggy jeans and a black, cropped top. I purposely let my hair down in an attempt to help hide the marks on my neck. As I left my room and went downstairs, of course, the first thing I see is my mother and Gabriel but they both looked sad while watching the TV. Attentive over my mother as always, I walked over to them to see what was the matter.

“Mom? Something happen?”

My mother looked surprised when she saw me then immediately got teary-eyed when she rushed over to hug me. “It was Elena…”

“El-what?” I looked her up and down confusedly until Gabriel explained the situation.

“Elena,” he said with a shake of his head and running his hand through his silver-streaked, blonde hair. “I can’t believe this…”

My brows knitted confusedly and I finally followed their gaze to the TV. My eyes widened and my mouth dropped when I saw the face of the maid who had accidentally stumbled upon me and Julian having sex last night. It had a news reporter talking about a car crash and showed an image of a completely wrecked car that had practically flown off of a narrow bridge, the news reporter said that it could’ve been a deer jumped in her way but the cops don’t know for certain.

“I feel like it's my fault,” Gabriel murmured with his head hung, his eyes bloodshot as if he had been crying. “I asked her to stay late to clean up my office because I went to bed early. I was tired is an excuse that I can never give again… oh, Elena…”

“We were close…” my mother whispered, I could feel her tears dampen my shoulder. “I can’t believe she’s gone… we just had tea yesterday… I just…” I saw that familiar darkening look in her eyes that I’d seen only when Dad died and I quickly hugged her tightly.

“It’ll be ok.” I then gave Gabriel a serious look that I rarely ever gave. “Turn the TV off.”

Gabriel got the message that this was triggering my mother’s trauma from my father’s death and he quickly turned it off before walking over to us and placing his hand on my mother’s back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think…”

“No, I’m fine, I’m fine, I just need some air.” despite my mother’s attempt to make us not worry about her, I could feel her body tremble in my arms.

*Damn it… damn it! How the hell did this happen!?*

“C’mon, Mom.” I took her hand while glancing at Gabriel in the corner of my eye. “I’ve got her.” I give him a brief response before taking her away. He gave me a simple nod and let me handle my distraught mother. I took her outside and we walked through the rose garden. She held on to my arm as if she were trying to keep herself steady. There was a silence between us, a painful one. I wanted to do what I could to ease my mother’s aching heart.

*I ran away because I couldn’t bear watching her last time. I won’t make that mistake again. Ever.*

I held on to her tightly as I murmured in a voice I rarely ever used. “It’ll be ok, Mom.” I didn’t know what else to say, no matter how much I wanted to comfort her. I was never good with words and I hated that part of me when I needed that skill the most, now more than ever. “...It was a car accident, right? Accidents happen… you used to tell me that all the time as a kid, remember?”

*Before Dad died, anyway…*

“I know, honey, I know. I just…” she released a shaky sigh while leaning her head on my shoulder. “I know…”

I grimaced as I watched her. I could tell that she was using all of her strength to battle her depression to the best of her ability. I didn’t know what else to say so I just wrapped my arm around her and held her close. Hoping that my warm embrace along with the cool breeze and scent of the roses would be enough to calm her nerves. We were the same height and always had the same type of bodies but yet I could tell that her frame was starting to become bony as age slowly claimed hers.

*What a coincidence… the woman I thought was going to ruin my life, and my mother’s reputation, is suddenly dead… I mean, it’s a good thing on my part. As cold and twisted as it sounds…* I winced as I looked at my mother and turned my head away. *No. I shouldn’t think that way. This really broke Mom’s heart. Even if it was a coincidence, it doesn’t change the fact that… My worry for my mother slowly began to turn into suspicion as the wary side of me began to stir out of concern for my mother’s grieving. What a coincidence… I wonder, what did Julian say to her?*

A few hours later, the grief in my mother’s eyes slowly faded as she regained her footing and began to smile again. I took her back inside to Gabriel once I felt that she’d be ok now. Once I left the two alone, I decided to go search for the one person in the whole world that I tried to constantly avoid.

*And what a fucking coincidence. I can’t find that shitty, horny, fugly bastard anywhere!*

As frustration took hold, I was practically stomping my way around the mansion in search of my stepbrother. Every single maid and servant that I passed by looked like they had just come back from a funeral with heavy frowns and red eyes. Their eyes were red from tears. My eyes were red from the veins of anger beginning to pulse inside of me.

*There’s no way in hell… there’s no way in fucking hell that Julian has something to do with this! He’s a freaky fucker but there’s no way he’d be responsible for the DEATH of somebody! That’s just too fucking far! It’s a coincidence. A coincidence. That’s all. A coincidence.*

My thoughts that slowly became frantic came to a stop at the same time my feet did when I heard a familiar, feminine chuckle. My frantic anger turned into intense annoyance as I heaved a loud sigh and turned to face the woman who was standing in the doorway of her bedroom, arms crossed and a devious smirk on her pretty pink lips.

“The fuck you want, Barbie?”

“Looking for somebody?” she asked gingerly in a sing-song voice while taking steps towards me. The tap of her heels somehow put my nerves on end.

“None of your fucking business,” I growled my words. She was being cocky. That meant she had something to say that would get me going. Part of me really didn’t want to know what it was.

“Are you sure about that?” she looked down at her phone and tapped on the screen a few times before giving me a sweet smile. “After all, he’s my brother too~” she then lifted her phone to my face. My jaw dropped in horror when I witnessed the video playing before my eyes.